The first USACM Thematic Conference on Multiscale Methods and Validation in Medicine and Biology will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel San Francisco Airport Burlingame on February 13-14, 2012. The title of the conference is Biomechanics and Mechanobiology. The organizers are Suvranu De, William Klug, and Wing Kam Liu.

Objectives:


Biomechanics involves the study of the interactions of physical forces with biological systems at all scales – including molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels. The emerging field of mechanobiology focuses on the way that cells produce and respond to mechanical forces – bridging the science of mechanics with the disciplines of genetics and molecular biology. The theme of this conference is the linking of disparate spatial and temporal scales using experimentation, image analysis and visualization, and computing for the purpose of investigating some of the most intriguing problems in biological and medicine science and technology. Discussions will relate to state-of-the-art research in computational sciences that investigate phenomena in Biomechanics and Mechanobiology through a multiscale perspective or providing efficient, coarse-grained description at the same scale. Emphasis will be placed on novel techniques in computing, experimentation and visualization, multidisciplinary research approaches that demonstrate successful synergies; computational reconstruction of experimental findings; and experimental and visualization techniques that support validation of computational models.

Topics:

We envision at most two parallel sessions with opportunities of focused discussions during the sessions, which will be centered around topics including the following:
• Mechanobiology at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels
• Multiscale mechanics of biological macromolecules in health and disease
• Multiscale biofluid mechanics and mass transport
• Multiscale mechanics of biological membranes and films and filaments
• Multiscale mechanics of adhesion
• Biomolecular motors and force generation
• Mechanics of bionanoporous material